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An Interview with Pat Broderick, Perennial Teacher and Lifelong LearnerPatricia Broderick is co-founder and Vice President/Editorial Director of Teaching K-8 magazine, a 35-year-old classroom service magazine for the elementary school teacher. Her 51 working years have been spent in teaching or working for teachers. She has organized and conducted workshops for teachers at locations throughout the United States, and has taught children and non-English speaking adult immigrants to read on a volunteer basis. For over 12 years Pat has also served on the advisory board of the Basic School Network, founded by the late Dr. Ernest R. Boyer. Pat has presented at several writing workshops at colleges, school districts and educational organizations and, for the last 20 years, has been on the faculty of the annual Highlights Foundation Writer's Workshop. In a recent email interview, Pat shared her thoughts on the current and future state of the teaching profession, the evolving field of professional development, and what she sees as critical to classroom success. Q: You've been involved in education for all your working years. What drew you into the field and what has helped you to stick with it? A: I am the granddaughter and daughter of Irish immigrants, and
education was fed to me with every spoon of baby food I ingested.
Education was an immigrant's Holy Grail. Once I was bitten by the
joy of learning - and that happened at home where I learned to
read and "do sums" before I went to first grade (they
didn't have kindergarten in those days) - I wanted to share it
with everyone. I'd probably be the perpetual student, given half
a chance. A: I feel very strongly that the real world is very hands-on, and learning should prepare us for that world. [Learning], too, must be engaging. I believe in the whole-child philosophy, and there's no way one can believe in that type of education for a child without it being very hands-on. It's the only way it can be done. I think this hands-on philosophy is important to Teaching K-8 magazine, as it was the philosophy with which we launched the magazine. It is still as valid 35 years later. It's why teachers subscribe. Best Practices of 2006 are still calling for a whole-child approach, which, of course, means being hands-on. Also, a magazine format is the ideal way to translate whole-child philosophy into the daily language of the classroom. I can take any single aspect of the best practices within the whole child philosophy and handle it in an exciting way that increases the teacher's professional development while providing good learning strategies in the classroom. Q: Teaching PreK-8 is "The Magazine for Professional Development." What are some of the major changes you've seen in the area of professional development in the past decade, and what changes do you foresee in the future? Does the term still hold the same meaning it did ten years ago? A: The changes I've seen in P.D. in the last ten years have been huge. No longer is a day or two each year of in-service on math activities - or a "new" textbook approach to teaching reading - sufficient for Professional Development. Teachers are now reaching to be Board Certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. They are examining their own practices in the light of accepted best practices. They are joining book groups before and after school to discuss professional development handbooks by Regie Routman and Shelley Harwayne. Teachers today understand that they ARE professionals and must shoulder the responsibilities that go along with being professional. They share their knowledge via teachers' magazines. These are not the arts and crafts activities of years ago, but in-depth recounting of a best practice they've tried and adapted with success in their specific classrooms. Q: At the AEP Summit in June, Mary Ann Wolf of the State Education Technology Directors Association talked about the challenges of providing professional development to today's busy teachers. What is causing these time constraints and what can publishers do to meet this challenge? What types of products exist that do a good job of addressing this problem? If you're thinking only of P.D. by way of technology, this requires a huge array of skills that are not necessarily in any teacher's bag of tricks. To find time to learn the new products in this ever-changing market is almost impossible. I also think teachers are stretched to the max with teaching to the test and still trying to educate the whole child. With all the good will in the world, there are only 24 hours in the day and their schedule would require at least 36 hours. Now, after I've blasted technology, I must say that the flexibility of tutorials online that teachers can try, or work with, in the wee hours of the morning do provide those magic hours missing for P.D. during the day. Q: Also at the AEP Summit, Nikki Barnes of the NEA talked about a need for professional development products that help teachers assess their own progress as well as the progress of their students. Are there products out there that address this need? Is there enough demand in this area to constitute a market opportunity for publishers? I think there are many products on the market that already help
teachers assess their own professional development progress. But
they're not sold singly: The information is included within handbooks
and in various student assessment packages. I think the online
and interactive online courses (and there are soooo many now) do
a good job of helping teachers assess themselves. To thrive in the classroom, I think teachers in the future will
have a broader view of education. They'll be very concerned that
they are training citizens of the world. Although brands
are always important as a starting point, I feel the more professional
teacher will tend to look at each item independently, not just
accept it because it came from a familiar publishing house. It's
just like trade book authors, as I think about it. Just because they've had
several best sellers doesn't mean that their next book will be a winner.
Teachers will be very selective and use many more teaching aids in the classroom. Q: According to a 2005 Issue Brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education, nearly half of all teachers that enter the field leave within five years. Why this is the case? What, if anything, can publishers do to help retain these young teachers? This is a real hot potato. I think teachers need mentors from
day one... and they don't usually get them. Sometimes, if they
do get one, it's someone who is really not mentoring willingly
and it's apparent in his or her attitude. The teaching profession
is not alone in this. I've had so many people tell one or two of
our employees how lucky they were to be mentored, as one doesn't
see it very often anymore. Of course, this lack of mentoring creates a worse
situation in education. Young, altruistic teachers really want to change
the world, or at least the world within their classrooms. Imagine, they're
impacting anywhere from 18 to 24 lives, plus the families of those children.
It's a lot of responsibility when one doesn't have the experience, and they're
so alone. Q: What are your thoughts on the teacher quality mandate of NCLB? Is teacher quality something that can be quantified in a test or decreed by a teacher college in the form of a degree or can it only come from teaching experience and working with teacher mentors? There are many good things that can't be measured. How good is
a good apple pie? Now, that's simplistic, I know, but teacher quality
can be just as subjectively assessed - and not mean a thing. I
think teachers colleges can structure many programs that theoretically
can produce teachers with great knowledge of how to teach. Is that
a guarantee that each of these teachers will be spectacular? I
don't think so. And shouldn't we be shooting for spectacular rather
than a general yardstick determined by committee?
Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 302-295-8349. |
Click here to read more on Pat, or for more information on the Educational Publishing Hall of Fame. |
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